Report: DeFehr Furniture plans layoff

Will close one of two Winnipeg plants

Michael Knell -- Furniture Today, September 5, 2008

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Case goods producer DeFehr Furniture will shutter one of its two factories here before the end of the year and lay-off as many as 200 workers, according to a report published in the Winnipeg Sun newspaper.

According to the report, DeFehr will close its Transcona plant on Dec. 31 and consolidate manufacturing operations at its larger facility in Winnipeg's Furniture Park.

The Sun report quotes a statement by company President Andrew DeFehr confirming the wood bedroom, entertainment and home office specialist has "decided to consolidate all of its finished goods operations" because it "finds itself with more production space than is required" amid a weakening market for its products.

The company attributes the decision to close the plant to "difficult financial and economic conditions within the furniture industry" and "specifically the rise of the Canadian dollar over the last several years."

However, the company doesn't specify how many jobs will be lost because of the closure, although the newspaper said senior production employees - those with 25 or more years of service - would be transferred to the Furniture Park facility. Neither production nor office workers are unionized.

Andrew DeFehr could not be reached for further comment.

DeFehr Furniture was created in 2004 when it was spun off from Palliser Furniture and sold to Frank DeFehr, brother of Art DeFehr. It expanded in 2006, when it acquired Palliser's Logic division. The company's focus was only to sell retailers capable of buying container loads of product, maximizing margins for retailers and cost efficiencies for the factory.